When someone is as wellknown as Shortland Street actor Ngahuia Piripi, you wouldn’t think they would have to beg anyone for a part in their show.
But that’s exactly what she did to be in some episodes of Only in Aotearoa, a comedy sketch show screening on Whakaata Māori (Māori TV).
“I literally begged them to let me come and play with them,” she says. “I knew that one of our directors on Shortland Street was over there directing. And I knew that they were filming on a weekend, so it wasn’t going to be a conflict with my Shortland Street scheduling.”
Ngahuia was also quite motivated because having played her character Esther Samuels for nearly nine years, she wanted to have a go at comedy.
“I just wanted to go over there and do something funny, and something different,” she explains. “To be able to dust off a bit of Esther and try something new. I
